In the summer of 2012, myself and 2 other Royal Air Force air cadets were the lucky few whom embarked for two weeks in the Netherlands on what I feel has been the pinnacle of my cadet career so far.

Meeting everyone for the first time at Brunel university we then left the next day from Heathrow were the United Kingdom party began to bond as we would later with all the members representing their respective countries. Arriving at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam we were greeted by the friendly representatives of the Netherlands Air Force and the IACE programme; we were then transported by coach (the standard transport of the 2 weeks) to Woensdrecht airbase where after being well fed and performing a standard room set up, we were fully briefed on the fortnight ahead of us.

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The first of the exchanges many trips out was to the space centre Noordwijk were we received an

I became interested in flying at the age of 11 by going on holiday abroad for the first time in over 8 years, nearly 4 years later and I am now learning to fly at Truman Aviation at Tollerton (Nottingham Airport.) The aircraft I’m learning to fly is the Piper PA-38-112 Tomahawk although I had my first ever flight with 7AEF (Air Experience Flight) at RAF Cranwell in a Grob Tutor and since have been gliding in a Vigilant T1 at 644VGS.

I’m am currently training to take my PPL (Private Pilot License) In the course there are approximately 8 written exams on Aviation Law and the Principles of Flight (Much harder than exams in the Air Cadets!) and after completing all the exams you must go for a flight with an approved Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) examiner! At the age of 16 you begin to fly solo and then you can begin to do cross-country flights and then at the age of 17 you will be issued your license and you can go on international flights (to France or Germany). Currently I am learning how to takeoff and land as well as the physics behind flight, turning, climbing, descending and soon I will be stalling and spinning (which I am not looking forward too!). I have already learned to taxi and I have even taxied by our squadron! I have also learned standard aviation RT (Radio Telephony) and now can communicate with the Air Traffic Controllers on the radio for most of the flight, when I’m 18 years old I will be allowed to start training for Air Traffic Control at Tollerton. I hope to upgrade onto a bigger aircraft (the Piper PA-28) where you can have more than one passenger (this is still covered by a PPL – Private Pilots License) You just have to become familiar and ‘get to grips’ with flying a different aircraft, then I want to go on and do and Instrument Rating (or IR for short) where you can learn to fly without looking out the windows! After that I plan on flying multi-engine aircraft and want to become an instructor, but to do this you must have another license called a CPL (Commercial Pilots License). After a few years of being an instructor hopefully I will have finished College and have enough money to pay for a type-rating for a commercial airliner and get a ATPL (Airline Transport Pilots License). I then plan on trying to get a job with an airline through a some sort of recruitment program just like one of my ex-instructors did, and he now flies for Ryanair. In the past two years when I have been on holiday I have met a First Officer (or Co-Pilot) who works for Jet2 on the Boeing 757-200 and he trained at Tollerton and worked there as an instructor too! So I have high hopes! He has even flown the same plane as me! The aircraft I would like to fly when I’m older is the Boeing 737NG as well as flying for an airline, in my spare time I would love to fly privately as a hobby, and with my PPL I could take my family on holidays and day trips away to places like Skegness, France or even Germany!

If you want to learn to fly you can actually do your PPL with Air Cadets, but it would be much quicker and easier to do it at a flying school such as the one here at Tollerton (‘Truman Aviation’) or ‘Sherwood Flying Club’ both offering cheap rates (some of the best in the country as well as one of the best General Aviation airports in the world, right next to our squadron!). If it’s flying helicopters your into then you can get a PPL(H) H meaning Helicopters just go to the website of ‘Central Helicopters’ they are also quite cheap for what it actually costs however it costs nearly 2 x as much as learning to fly a conventional aeroplane.

On Sunday 13th October three cadets from 2425 Squadron went to the Central & East Region Swimming Championships as part of the South & East Midlands team at RAF Cranwell. On the day we came second overall with 110 points (out of six). Our junior girls had an excellent day. Cadet Madeline Mackay & Cadet Hannah Mackay represented the girls in six out of the seven events, taking two firsts; three seconds and a third*. Unfortunately the junior boys didn't do so well in their six events, our junior boys where rather small compared to those from other teams! However that didn't dampen the team spirit and a fun day was had by all.

* Junior girls results2nd place in Backstroke (Hannah)1st place in Breaststroke (Madeline)2nd place in Freestyle (Hannah)1st place in Individual Medley (Madeline)2nd place Medley Relay (Hannah)3rd place in Freestyle Relay (Madeline)

Cadet Malkin was recently fortunate to attend an Air Cadet gliding bursary run by the Buckminster Gliding Club at Saltby Airfield in Lincolnshire. Here is the story of the week in his words.

“We all met at Saltby clubhouse for a comprehensive briefing on what the week would entail. The next five fantastic days were filled with a lot of flying as the four of us learnt how to operate the glider, from turns to stalls to thermalling and everything in between. We practiced launch cable breaks at different heights, as well as spins, spin recoveries, and a nasty lesson of what happens if you stall at low level. We also all had to learn the ropes on the ground.

“By the end of the week two of the cadets on the course were deemed as suitable to go solo, and so a silence came over the airfield as one by one they launched for their first ever flights with no-one else in the cockpit. Both achieved two solo trips, rounding off a hugely successful week.

“I did not manage to go solo during the course week, mainly due to spells of bad weather during my slot times; however I returned to Saltby later on in the month and after several practice circuits I took off thinking I’m going to have to land this! The nerves soon went away as all my training came to fruition and I completed two safe trips. It was fantastic to know that I flew the flight all by myself; and I thank the instructors and Committee immensely for all the support they gave to help me get to this point.

“I found the week hugely beneficial, interesting and enjoyable, though intense and demanding. All the hard work is worth it and being presented with my ‘wings’ upon going solo proved this.”

The National Concert Band Camp was at RAF Cranwell this year. I am a trumpet player and I heard about the camp from my Squadron (2425 Nottingham Airport Squadron).

This was my first camp and I was feeling nervous, but looking forward to meeting the RAF Regiment Band players as they were going to spend the week with us. We also played with the RAF College Band members which was a nice surprise.